


Stranger in the House

by susanowa (panickyintheuk)



Series: Inconveniences Rightly Considered [9]
Category: Marvel 616, Marvel Adventures (Comics), Marvel Adventures: Avengers
Genre: Crossover, Dimension Travel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 13:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9126094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panickyintheuk/pseuds/susanowa
Summary: "You're not Tony," he said, taking a rapid step back. His fists clenched at his sides."I sort of am!" said Not Tony, hands thrown up defensively. "Alternate dimension version, no evil intentions, I swear!"





	

**Author's Note:**

> For bingo square O4, 'mirror image'.
> 
> I feel like I could tinker with this fic forever, but the bingo deadline is here. SORT OF contains spoilers for current 616 canon, but not really. As with 'Volare', I wrote most of this when I thought Civil War II was going to end a little differently, but it still works. 616 Tony isn't clear on exactly what happened to him.

When Steve walked into Tony's office, Tony was looking at his paperwork. Usually that made him look bored or frustrated, but right now he looked a little -- overwhelmed. Oh, dear. Steve hadn't known things were going badly at work again. He'd hoped Tony would tell him things like that, but sometimes he didn't want to worry Steve.

Tony looked up as Steve approached, and his expression turned cautious as it searched his face, then relieved. That was odd too. Maybe Tony was tired? Steve rounded the desk and moved in for a kiss, and Tony leaned back, avoiding it.

Steve's first thought was that he'd accidentally left the door open, but no, he remembered hearing the click. He frowned at Tony, confused and a little hurt. Then he really looked at... not Tony.

"You're not Tony," he said, taking a rapid step back. His fists clenched at his sides. The Chameleon? Tony had given him a much-sanitized and edited version of those events shortly after they happened, and then, more recently, the colored-in version. If it was the Chameleon again it would be very satisfying indeed to break his nose, but what if he was wrong, and he hurt Tony for no reason? He forced himself to take a deep breath.

"I sort of am!" said Not Tony, hands thrown up defensively. "Alternate dimension version, no evil intentions, I swear!"

"Then where's..." he struggled for the right terminology. ' _My_ Tony' was a little possessive, and 'the real Tony' seemed rude. "... Tony," he finished, lamely.

"He's still here," said Not Tony, gesturing to himself. "I think. You ever see 'Quantum Leap'?"

"Heard of it," said Steve. "Never seen it. Little before my time."

" _Before_ your time?"

"Well, I only got here about two and a half years ago," Steve explained. Maybe it was different, where this Tony came from.

Not Tony's face was doing something soft. It made him look more like Tony, which was uncomfortable.

"Well, it's like that," said Not Tony. The Other Tony might be a better name for him, Steve thought charitably. "Except it's always a version of myself that I... leap into."

"Is it safe?"

"For the other person, or for me?"

"Well... both," said Steve. Of course, he'd been thinking mainly of his Tony, but it was hard not to care about this Tony too. He was _a_ Tony, after all.

The Other Tony looked like he was considering his words carefully. "Well, for them, I think so. I think when I leap out, they just... come back. But I can't be totally sure," he added, looking carefully at Steve. "And for me, well, it depends. I mean, sometimes I come in in the middle of something risky..."

"And what happens if the person you're in dies while you're in there?"

"Why, are you planning on killing me?"

"Ha, ha," said Steve. It hardly seemed like an appropriate time for jokes, but then, this was a Tony. But Other Tony didn't look entirely like he was joking, come to think of it. "No," he clarified hastily, tamping down his horror at the idea. "So what happens?"

"Not sure," said Other Tony, tapping idly at his chest. "Hasn't actually happened yet."

"Well, good," said Steve. "Let's try to keep it that way, shall we?"

#

He'd suggested that they go to see Reed Richards, and Other Tony had looked like he was trying very hard to suppress an eye roll. "You're not the first person to suggest that," he'd said. "You're not even the first Steve to suggest that."

But they were on their way anyway, because it still seemed like a better idea than just doing nothing, and Reed would probably be mad at him if he found out later that there'd been an inter-dimensional visitor and he'd been left out of the loop.

"So," said Steve as they walked, "what's longest you've ever been inside someone?"

Other Tony choked a little around the last bite of the hot dog he'd been eating, and then cleared his throat. "Uh," he said, glancing sidelong at Steve.

"That was a joke," Steve told him. Tony would have known that. "But please do actually answer the question, because I really want to know."

Other Tony made a face. "Three months," he admitted. Steve stared at him, stomach suddenly leaden. Three _months_? He hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to Tony. 

"But it's usually much shorter than that," Other Tony added hurriedly. "Couple of days or so. One time it was fifteen minutes."

Steve nodded, only a little reassured. If there was that much variation, who was to say that it couldn't be even longer this time? What if something went wrong, and they never got Tony back? Or what if Other Tony was wrong about how this thing worked, and every time he leaped out, he just left a... a husk? He breathed deeply. They'd been in worse fixes than this before, he knew that. It was just that usually he felt as though he could protect Tony somehow -- like the time with Morgan le Fay, when he'd been there to talk to Jarvis and make a plan with him, and then to lend Tony his shield (and Tony had looked so wonderful, charging into battle in his armor with Steve's shield on his arm -- even if he was being a complete idiot). Or if it was Steve who was in trouble, like the time with Helmut Zemo, he trusted Tony and the other Avengers completely to save him. But he had to admit this was outside of their wheelhouse, even Bruce's, and probably even Tony's too, if he were here (not that there'd be a problem to solve, of course, if Tony were here, he thought with a pang). He'd have to try and trust Reed Richards, who was supposedly very smart indeed, but he wasn't part of Steve's team. It was harder than it should have been.

"I know you must be worried about your boyfriend," said Other Tony consolingly.

"Yes," said Steve. "I'm sorry I tried to kiss you, by the way."

"Oh, well, not the first time," said Other Tony blithely. "I've been to quite a few dimensions where we're together. That dimension's version of you and me, I mean," he clarified needlessly.

"And in your dimension?"

"Er," he said, laughing shortly, "no."

Steve frowned. He wanted to ask about that, but it wasn't really any of his business, he supposed.

#

Despite his worry, Steve couldn't help being amused at Dr. Richards' fascinated reaction to Other Tony. He wasn't a man with many social graces, but Other Tony was obviously used to him -- or versions of him -- and Steve hardly minded. Other Tony sat patiently through a barrage of tests of increasing bizarreness, occasionally shooting Steve a long-suffering look. Finally, Richards seemed to be winding down, and he approached Other Tony with a frustrated expression and the air of a man about to impart some important news.

"Let me guess," Other Tony pre-empted him. "You're having trouble drawing any conclusions because of magical interference which seems to bear the energy signature of Victor von Doom?"

Richards pursed his lips. "More or less. You might have mentioned it."

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, you'd have insisted on running the tests anyway. You always do."

"How very thorough of me," said Richards, with a touch of that fond exasperation that Tonys seemed to attract wherever they went.

"And let me further guess that you'd like some more time to gather data."

"And let _me_ guess," said Richards, "that I'm not going to get it."

"Not today, Reed," said Other Tony, a little note of pleading in his voice. "Let me get a little rest, okay? Not every dimension I pop up in is quite this relaxing. I want to make the most of it while it lasts. If I'm still here tomorrow, I'll let you know."

"All right," said Richards, throwing up his hands in resignation, and elongating his arms for added effect as he did it.

#

Back at the Tower, Steve had decided to fill Other Tony in on some of the team's best adventures.

"Wait," Other Tony said, incredulous, "he seriously didn't know who Morgan le Fay was? Are you sure he wasn't just fucking with you?"

"Why would he be doing that?"

"It's just hard for me to get my head around. Like, I was _obsessed_ with King Arthur as a kid. I even read 'The Mists of Avalon' cover to cover. Had to hide it from my dad like it was a dirty magazine -- to be fair, there were definitely dirty parts. But he would mainly have objected on the grounds that it was girly."

That sounded like Howard, all right, Steve thought with a grimace. "Tony's more into non-fiction these days," he said. "But he used to read a lot of Jules Verne when he was younger, he said."

"Well, that's good too," said Other Tony with a shrug. "Hope he had a decent translation. What about you, you into Tolkien here?"

"Oh, yeah! I was actually reading Fellowship when I... you know, got frozen."

Tony frowned. "What, did you... know Tolkien or something? Get hold of an early draft?"

"No," said Steve, taken aback. "I just bought it at a store like everybody else. Why?"

"In my universe, Fellowship wasn't published until the fifties."

"Right," said Steve. "1954, I guess. It couldn't have been out very long when I crashed -- I bought it right when it came out, and I was still working on it. I got it for myself as a late birthday present, I remember, so I guess it was July?"

"Of 1954?" asked Tony searchingly.

"Yeah," said Steve.

"Okay, that's a new one. I think that might be even weirder than a version of me who isn't into the Arthurian legends."

"What do you mean?"

"You usually crash in 1945. Although in some of my leaps we haven't exactly had a chance to chew the cud, so maybe it's not as unusual as I think, who knows."

"Huh," said Steve.

"I can't help but wonder what it means -- the things that are constant and the things that vary, you know? I mean, I can only leap into universes where I exist -- so far, anyway -- so maybe the constants are somehow prerequisites to my being born, but then sometimes it seems like the circumstances of my birth differ too. It's enough to make you wonder if there isn't some... I don't know, cosmic design. Determinism. Not an idea I like very much."

Steve thought for a moment. "Well, you and Tony aren't exactly alike. Maybe Howard and Maria were always going to call their son Tony, no matter what, and you just leap into any universe where they had a son? And then there are enough similarities between you that you assume you're versions of the same person. You're all brothers, in a way, after all, aren't you? So it stands to reason you'd be similar."

"It's a solid theory," said Other Tony, but he didn't seem convinced. In fact, he sounded like there was something he knew that Steve didn't. Probably lots of things.

Tony seemed tired, and Steve was reaching for his hand and digging a thumb into his palm before he could think better of it. Hand massages always seemed to relax Tony -- but Other Tony pulled his hand away, calmly but firmly. He met a little resistance at first, as Steve's brain didn't relay the message as quickly as it ought to have done.

"I'm sorry!" said Steve hurriedly. "But I'm good at it. You like it."

"I'm sure I do," said Other Tony tolerantly. "Not liking it isn't what I'm worried about."

"Ah," said Steve, suddenly feeling slightly warm. He'd thought this Tony wasn't attracted to him like that -- the way he'd shied away from Steve's kiss, the way he'd said 'no' when Steve asked him if they were together where he came from. But maybe it wasn't that at all.

"Do you, ah... do you have someone waiting for you, back home?" he asked.

"Home," said Other Tony quietly. His eyes went unseeing, and his pause seemed to stretch painfully. "No," he said finally. "I don't have anyone."

Tony hated pity, and Other Tony probably would too, but Steve wanted to comfort him more than anything in that moment.

Other Tony broke the silence again. "Everything went to hell, where I come from. Not for the first time, but... I don't know if I can come back from this one. In more ways than one. Even if I could get back somehow, I don't know what's left for me there."

"I'm sorry," said Steve, voice coming out soft and cracked. "I wish you could stay here after Tony comes back."

Other Tony laughed a little. "And what, control the left half of his body, 'All of Me' style?"

"No," said Steve, "I --"

"I know what you meant. Sorry, I guess things got a little too real for me for a second there. I don't like thinking about it. I think I --" he cleared his throat. "I think I died."

Steve stared at him, and Other Tony shrugged.

"So now I bounce around universes like some kind of purgatory pinball. Not really what I expected. Victor -- I don't know what Victor did. I never know what he's doing these days."

"Victor? You mean _Doom_? I know you said something about his energy signature to Dr. Richards. I figured you were fighting him and got hit by a ray or something."

"'A ray or something'," echoed Other Tony, lightly mocking. "No, we weren't fighting. Well, I wasn't fighting him. He's..." he shrugged again. "He's been acting weird lately. And we're talking about a guy who habitually wears a floor-length green cape and makes robots of himself. I mean, maybe I'm not one to talk -- but anyway, he's been acting extra weird."

"And he did something?"

"He must have done. I don't know what, exactly. Look, I... I'm getting pretty tired."

"Right," said Steve. Probably kind of a painful topic. The strategist in Steve wanted to get all the information out of him that he could, put the puzzle together, try to come up with a solution -- but it wasn't his job to do that, and he didn't want to upset Other Tony any more than he already had. "Um. Are you going to sleep in the Tower tonight?"

"Uh... would you rather I didn't? I could get a hotel room or something, if it would make you uncomfortable."

"No!" said Steve. "I mean, if you're not going to sleep here, you might as well go back to the mansion, but I was just thinking, it might be better if I were here when you woke up, in case you... leap. That way I can explain things to Tony." He bit his lip anxiously. _If_ Tony came back when Other Tony leaped away, the way they were hoping it worked. He didn't have any real reason to believe otherwise, of course, but it was a constant, nagging worry.

"So Tony doesn't live here?" said Other Tony, with a weighing look.

"Um, no," said Steve, suddenly embarrassed. "Well, when we didn't know Iron Man was him, I guess it wouldn't really have worked for him to live with us, and now it's... he probably doesn't want to live in the same building where he works, I guess. I mean, he does have a room here, technically, but he lives at the mansion."

"Well, I think you're right," said Other Tony. "I'll stay here tonight."

"Great," said Steve. "Um, I guess, then, you'll be sleeping in my room with me?" Other Tony raised an eyebrow. "I just mean... if the point is for me to be there..."

Other Tony sighed, and then gave Steve a funny little smile. "Yep, that makes sense," he said.

#

Other Tony settled into bed, wearing a pair of cotton pajamas that had seen very little use from its rightful owner. He put Tony's phone in its charging station and reached to turn off the lamp on Tony's side of the bed.

"Wait," said Steve, "check off his tasks on Habitica first. Or he'll lose his streak. Plus we're fighting a boss right now."

Other Tony looked at him blankly for a second. "Okay," he said finally, and then muttered "this universe is ridiculous" to himself. He picked up Tony's phone and tapped at it, then frowned. "Password," he said, looking at Steve.

"Oh, sorry, give it here," said Steve, typing it in -- Tony always used the six digit option, and he changed it fairly frequently, but right now it was 638387. It needed a fingerprint, too, but Other Tony had already taken care of that. Steve could override that in an emergency, anyway. He handed it back to Other Tony, who raised one of Tony's eyebrows at him and then opened the Habitica app.

"What are all these?" he asked, squinting at Tony's dailies.

"That's his self-care checklist," said Steve. "His therapist gave it to him."

Other Tony looked at the list, wearing a kind of quizzical smile. "Should I even check them off if he's not the one who's done them?"

Steve sighed. "I suppose you're right. Well, give it here, I'll check him into the Tavern."

#

Steve woke, muzzily, his arms around Tony. It was so nice when Tony slept over. He buried his nose in Tony's hair.

"Hey," said Tony, "it's still me." Steve didn't fully register the words, just hummed happily, until Tony was gently disengaging from him and sitting up, moving until his feet were over the side of the bed. Then Steve remembered.

"Oh," he said, rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes. "I'm sorry. This is confusing for me. You're... almost him..."

Other Tony hummed a little tune to himself, then started singing. "Not all good things must come to an end now, it is only a chosen few..." he looked sideways at Steve. "Elvis Costello song? There's a part where -- you reminded me of a lyric. Sorry."

"Tony likes Elvis Costello," said Steve.

"I knew he had good taste. I mean, I'm still not over the whole Arthur thing, but, apart from that."

"I'm sorry. Again."

"It was bound to happen. I should have put the kibosh on sleeping here as soon as I realized we'd be sharing a room, to be honest. If I'm still here tomorrow night I'm gonna make it the mansion."

Steve sighed. "I know I keep... overstepping my boundaries," he said. "I honestly didn't have some ulterior motive when I asked you to sleep over, I swear, I'm just... I'm so worried."

"I know," said Other Tony gently.

"And I'm so used to... but it's not just that I keep forgetting. Even when I remember, I still... it's hard for me to act like I don't care about you, too. You're a version of Tony. I can't pretend that means nothing to me."

"But I'm not him," said Other Tony.

"No," said Steve. "You're you. And I like what I've seen of you so far."

There was a little crease in Other Tony's brow. If it had been Tony, Steve would have reached out and smoothed it away. But it wasn't.

"Well," said Steve, "let's just try and get some more sleep, huh? And I'll just... I'll face the other way."

#

Steve had asked the others to give them a little space last night, but when Other Tony was still there the following morning, they needed to call a team meeting. Other Tony had taken it in stride at first, chatting with Jan and answering Ororo's questions, but as the room had filled up he'd got quieter and quieter. He shouldn't have been taken by surprise, as Steve had told him who they were expecting, but he'd got a little quiet after that conversation, too. Steve watched him carefully. When Bruce had walked in, Other Tony's face had gone eerily blank for a second. As upsetting as the blank expression was, it was the way it had almost immediately been smoothed over that bothered Steve more. _You don't have to hide from us_ , he wanted to say. But what did he know about what this Other Tony had to hide?

Logan's entrance had elicited a shadow of the same expression, but that had quickly turned into a good-natured eye roll when Logan proceeded to be Logan. Spider-Man had been met with nothing more than a mildly curious look. It was Bruce that Other Tony's eyes returned to again and again, then darted away, as the meeting went on.

"In an emergency, we may have to call in one of our reserve members," said Ororo. "Perhaps Whitman?"

Steve fidgeted uncomfortably. There was nothing wrong at all with Whitman, except for the way he looked at Tony, and Steve could hardly blame him for that. And in any case, it didn't _matter_ , since he'd only be called in if Tony wasn't here. Still.

"I can operate the armor," put in Other Tony. "It'll be different than my current model, but I've gone through pretty much every permutation I could think of at some stage -- I can handle it."

"I have no doubt of your abilities," said Ororo, "and if Steve is inclined to trust you, then so am I. But it simply isn't safe. What if you 'leap' mid-flight?"

Other Tony's head drooped a little. Steve almost wanted to insist that he be allowed to fly, just to stop him looking like that -- which was completely insane, obviously, and not a thought he actually entertained for very long. But the temptation was there.

"Of course," said Other Tony. "You're right."

"And you have no idea how long you're likely to be here?" asked Bruce.

"There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern," said Other Tony. He looked Bruce right in the eye as he answered. If Steve hadn't been watching so closely, he wouldn't have noticed the way he steeled himself first. "As I told Steve, so far the range has been between fifteen minutes and three months, but I haven't been able to figure out any rhyme or reason to it."

"Three _months_?" echoed Jan, looking at Steve wide-eyed.

"But it's usually only a few days, right?" Steve prompted.

"Usually between two and four," Other Tony confirmed. "I'm not making any guarantees, but you can probably expect me to be gone by tomorrow or the day after."

"But we ought to have a plan in place for longer," said Ororo solemnly.

#

After the meeting, Ororo took Steve to one side and asked if he were sure that Tony would come back automatically when Other Tony leapt away. It was exactly the question that Steve had been trying, and failing, not to obsess over, and he told her as much. She patted his arm sympathetically.

"We'll see," she said. "Perhaps Reed Richards will be able to help us. Have you spoken to him since yesterday?"

Steve shook his head.

"I'll liaise with him," she promised. "I'll leave you alone with our guest for now."

"Thank you," said Steve gratefully. Having a joint team leader certainly had its perks -- Steve had been used to shouldering the burdens of command by himself, and while he did like to have control over a situation, there were times when it was a relief to hand over the reins to someone he trusted as much as himself. Especially when the problem required a 'wait and see' approach -- Steve's least favorite kind.

He turned back to Other Tony. "You okay?" he asked.

"Sure," said Other Tony, "of course."

"Do you want to... talk about anything?"

Other Tony frowned at him. "No?"

"Like, Bruce or anything?"

Other Tony looked down. "I think I'd better not," he said. "Look, don't... your universe is pretty different from mine. I doubt the same things are going to happen. And a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Sometimes knowing what _might_ happen is worse than not knowing anything, and trying to prevent things is what ends up bringing them about. Or something worse."

"I agree," said Steve. "That's not why I asked. I just thought you might want to talk about it."

Other Tony swallowed. "Thanks," he said, "but I still think I better not."

"Okay," said Steve. "What do you want to do?"

"Might head down to the office, see if I can make myself useful? And then... back to the mansion, I suppose."

Steve nodded. He wished Other Tony would stay in the Tower again tonight, but he understood why not and he wasn't going to push it. It was his own damn fault, after all. "Do you mind if I come with you for a bit?" he said.

"I guess not."

#

Pepper had looked hopeful, at first, when Other Tony had shown up with Steve in tow, but she'd recovered quickly when they explained there was no change, and given Other Tony a list of things he might be able to deal with. Steve hung around for a while as Other Tony worked his way through it, but he decided to leave before lunch. It was increasingly strange and uncomfortable, watching someone else in Tony's body and in his space, doing the things Tony did, but not quite the way he'd do them. It would be strange eating lunch alone, too -- Tony almost _always_ made sure he was free to get lunch, and Steve appreciated that, because he knew how busy Tony was.

"Listen," he said before he left, "just in case I don't see you again -- obviously I'm anxious for Tony to get back, but you'll be missed."

"Come on," said Other Tony.

"Well," said Steve, "you don't have to believe me, but it's true. Like I said, I wish you could stick around somehow. I wish you could meet Tony. I'm glad to have known you, really."

Other Tony looked impossibly sad for a second. Steve hated to see that expression on Tony's face -- but of course, it was gone almost as quickly as it had come. "Well, I can certainly say the same," he said. "Thank you for making me so welcome. I know this hasn't been easy on you."

"You'll keep checking in with me, right?"

"Of course."

"And you won't... go off anywhere?"

"I'll go straight from here to the mansion, and I'll get Happy to drive me. I promise."

Steve nodded. "Thanks," he said. He left to get lunch by himself, feeling sick and sad and not at all hungry.

* * *

Tony woke up in his bed at the mansion, which was all well and good, but the last thing he remembered, he'd been in his office finishing off some paperwork before lunch. He took a deep breath, tried not to panic. He was safe and sound and in his own bed, so whatever had happened, it could be a lot worse. He felt around his head for any obvious injuries -- nothing. He reached for his phone, and to his relief it was charging on the bedside table where he always left it. But, on checking the date and time, it looked like roughly 36 hours were unaccounted for.

There were two notifications on the lock screen. One was a voicemail, and one was a new message from Steve, which just said ' **Bump** '. He opened his conversation with Steve and scrolled back to the last message he recognized, from two days ago: ' **Just about to head down xx** ', to which Tony had replied with an OK emoji, a burrito emoji, and a closed-eyes-smiling-cat emoji, signing off with an ' **xx** '. Right, he... vaguely remembered sending that while most of his mind was occupied with checking a shipping report. He closed his eyes briefly. That particular crisis was going to have to go on the back burner. The next message from Steve was from yesterday afternoon, and just said ' **Sit rep?** ', to which he, or someone using his phone, had replied ' **No change** '. Steve had replied ' **Ok going to send message for Tony but please continue to check in** ', and whoever had his phone had replied ' **Ok** '. Steve's message for him followed: ' **Tony, when you see this, please call me. It doesn't matter what time it is. You might be confused or disoriented but don't worry. I will explain everything xxx** '. The following message, from Tony's phone, said ' **Check in. You ok?** '. Steve: ' **Thanks. Yeah just worried :/** '. Tony's phone: ' **I know :(** ', then, later, ' **Check in** '. Steve had replied with ' **Thanks. Going to try and sleep now, goodnight** ', which got a ' **Goodnight and good luck** ', and then there was the 'Bump' message, which had been sent earlier this morning.

He called his voicemail.

"Hi, me! It's you," the message started. "You know, sort of. I don't know when exactly you'll listen to this, so if you're totally confused about what's happening right now, ask Steve and he'll fill you in. As it were. Um, I don't always do this, but I wanted to say hi to you. I'm not trying to ghost-of-Christmas-yet-to-come you, or set right what once went wrong, or anything -- honestly, I'm not worried. I want you to know that I think you're doing great, actually. I guess, one little note -- Steve is crazy about you, but you probably know that already. Anyway, it would make him really happy if you moved into the Tower. Maybe you have reasons for not doing that that I don't know about, but if it's just the usual thing where you're second guessing yourself because you don't want to presume, I would say, presume away on this one, okay? I really think you two are gonna make it. So... take care of each other, and good luck. Okay, bye."

Tony stared blankly at his phone for several seconds. Then he called Steve, who picked up almost immediately.

"Hello?" he said, a little breathlessly.

"Hi, Steve?"

"Tony! Is that you?"

"It's me."

"Oh, thank God," said Steve, sounding ragged around the edges. "How much do you remember?"

"Nothing since around midday on Tuesday," admitted Tony. He heard Steve take a deep breath, and decided to cut him off before he could launch into a detailed explanation. He had already reached a few conclusions, based on the voicemail message, which he now felt guilty about listening to when Steve had clearly been so worried. "Hey, how about I fly over there and you can tell me all about it face-to-face, huh?"

"That sounds good," said Steve gratefully.

#

Tony stopped in the basement to take his armor off before he went up to the top levels. Steve would want to reassure himself that Tony was okay, and he usually did that through feeling him up. In a very tender, restrained way, of course.

Sure enough, when Steve saw him, the first thing he did was sweep him up in his arms. All very matinee idol. Tony patted him consolingly on the back -- as far as he was concerned, he'd seen Steve yesterday evening, but it had presumably been a couple of days for Steve, and he'd clearly spent most of that time fretting.

"I'm all in one piece," he said. Steve didn't reply, probably because his face was buried firmly in the divot where Tony's neck met his shoulder.

"He wouldn't let me touch you," he said eventually, muffled. "Which I get! But I kept doing it without thinking."

Tony stroked his back soothingly. "I'm really sorry I wasn't there."

"Don't be silly. I'm just so glad you're back. He kept saying he was sure you'd be okay but I knew he didn't really know, and I was so worried, and now..." he trailed off.

"Now what, sweetheart?"

Steve pulled back and sniffed. "Well, now I'm worried about _him_ ," he said. "I know it's stupid."

Tony had been mostly following along up until this point, but he was starting to get a little lost. "Okay," he said. "Let's go and sit down and you can tell me everything from the beginning, okay? But I should probably check in with Pepper first."

Steve made a small, aborted noise.

"What is it?" Tony asked him gently.

"I just, can you stay with me and call her instead of going down there straight away?"

"Sure. Of course. How much does she know?"

"Oh, everything. And I let her know after you called this morning. Other Tony did as much of your paperwork as he could, by the way, you're not too badly behind."

"That was very decent of him," said Tony, bemused.

"Yeah, well, he was a decent guy," said Steve. He sounded a little sad. "More than decent."

"Okay, come on," said Tony, steering them towards the couch and sitting in it. Steve sat down next to him, but Tony put an arm around him and tugged, maneuvering him until he was lying with his head in Tony's lap. Tony carded a hand through his hair. "Okay?"

Steve nodded against his thigh.

"Okay. Good. So, I'm going to call Pepper, super quick, and then you can tell me everything."

#

Pepper was obviously relieved to hear from him, but he was a little put out by her assertion that the company could do perfectly well without him for a few days.

"Why exactly do I keep working my ass off, then?" he asked her.

"I'd like to see anyone try and stop you," she answered.

"Maybe I'll take the rest of the week off, if I'm so dispensable."

"Sure, Tony," she said. "You do that."

"Well," he said reluctantly, "I won't be in for at least another hour, anyway! Maybe two!"

"We'll survive."

"Fine," said Tony, hanging up on her. He resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at his phone.

"Sorry," he said to Steve.

"It's okay."

"So, you want to talk me through it? The other me left me a voicemail, so --"

"He did?"

"Yeah. I figured he was either from the future or another dimension? He didn't actually say."

"Another dimension." That had been Tony's hunch. _I don't always do this_ , the other him had said, and _I really think you two are going to make it_. And he hadn't sounded like he was being cute.

Steve told him what he knew -- not a huge amount, it turned out. The other Tony had been on the reticent side. Probably wise.

"He really didn't tell me much about -- other places, but from things he said it sounded like there were dimensions where we aren't even friends. I hate to think of that. And I hate not knowing where he might be going. It sounded like this was one of the better places he'd been to."

"I'm not surprised," said Tony quietly, stroking Steve's hair. "We have a good life here, don't we?" He could easily imagine all the ways things might have gone wrong for him. It never escaped him, how lucky he was.

"Yes," said Steve. "I'm glad he got a chance to stay here for a little while and not have to worry too much, but I can't stand thinking of him, just, chaotically jumping from one universe to another, never knowing how long he's going to be there or what's next. It sounds like hell. And I can't stand that there's nothing I can do about it."

Tony nodded thoughtfully. "Well," he said, "I can't promise anything, but I can talk to Reed, see if there's anything we can do on this end."

"Thank you," said Steve. "That means a lot."

"Hey, us Tonys have to stick together, right? So... listen..." he took a deep breath. "I've been thinking. It's kind of a hassle, commuting from the mansion every day." A bare-faced lie, it barely took any time at all in the suit. "Maybe it would make more sense if Jarvis and I moved into the tower full time?"

Steve sat up. "Really?"

"Well, look, be totally honest with me. If you'd rather I didn't, that's fine. I --"

"Tony," said Steve, pulling him into his lap, "of _course_ I want you to!"

"It's a big step, living together -- for us, I mean. It's not like we're normal people, our lives are crazy, and with the team and everything... just, think about it, be sure you're okay with it."

"Tony, I've thought about it plenty! I'm always thinking about it."

"You never said anything."

"I didn't want to pressure you." It was amazing, how bashful Steve could look -- a totally different person than he was in the field.

Tony liked the mansion, but it _was_ awfully big for just him and Jarvis, and it cost a lot to heat and maintain. It would be a shame to leave it empty, though. He'd have to think of the best way to make use of it -- because there was no way he wasn't moving into the tower now. Steve's face had made up his mind for him.

"You never pressure me," he said. "You can tell me if you want something, okay? Anything. I won't mind. You can ask me for anything."

Steve pulled him in, one hand on the small of his back and the other on the back of his head, kissing him hard. "Live with me," he muttered.

"Done," said Tony, and kissed him again.

In the back of Tony's mind, he was vaguely aware that he'd told Pepper he'd be heading down to the office at some point, but -- to hell with it. She'd said they were fine, and she could call him if she needed him. Steve didn't seem inclined to let go of him any time soon, and Tony was fine with that.

"You're back, then?" said Logan.

Tony jumped. Steve didn't. It was entirely possible he'd heard Logan coming in and just continued making out with Tony anyway, because he had _no shame_.

"Hi, Logan," said Tony. "I'm moving in."

"'Bout time," said Logan.

Steve grinned at him. "Isn't it?"

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I'm doubling down on the 1954 thing! It might have been a misprint, but I am having a lot of fun trying to make this series 100% canon-compliant with MA:A and MA:IM (except for making some of the issues of MA:A non-chronological), including all the weird eccentricities therein. I did make a mistake in an earlier fic of making Avengers Tower and Stark Tower two different buildings, which is wrong, but I'm gonna fix that at some point.
> 
> Mirror Image is the name of the Quantum Leap finale! I didn't know that until after I started this fic. I have never watched a full episode of Quantum Leap. This doesn't actually work how Quantum Leap works, it's just a shorthand Tony is using.
> 
> You'll notice that this is also the start of a new series! It's full of dimension-hopping and Elvis Costello references and I'm really excited about it. Another installment is mostly finished, and it's probably one of my favourite things I've written so far. Others are planned. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that the Inconveniences series is over! This is a spin-off launch episode, not a finale episode. There are at least two episodes still to come, and probably more than that.


End file.
